“…What is all this…?”
“Sky island samples.”
Ravi frowned as she looked at the countless islands, large and small, floating in the air. Of course, she had taken part in the work at Suho’s request, but she hadn’t expected it to be this haphazard…
Some were one or two kilometers in diameter, while the smaller ones were only thirty meters across. Since the amount of levitation stone used varied, their heights were all over the place as well.
The materials used for the floating islands were just as inconsistent.
Some floating islands were made entirely of gold, while others were made of diamond or etherium. Then there were some that were truly nothing but granite.
Because of Suho’s sky island samples floating at various sizes and heights, the scenery inside the subspace warehouse had changed considerably.
There was the artificial Chungju Lake he had made by working Ravi to the bone, Dream Village beneath it, and the enormous storage zone occupying one side. With floating islands now drifting above all of it, the sight felt less magnificent and more absurd.
“Isn’t it a bit… distracting?”
Ravi, who always kept the subspace warehouse organized, asked with a face full of dissatisfaction.
“Why? It’s three-dimensional and nice to look at. The sky was boring anyway, with no sun, moon, stars, or clouds. Isn’t it great to have something floating around up there? Makes the sky look a little richer, too.”
“…Ahem. But in any case, this isn’t a space where the same physical laws as Earth apply, so there isn’t much meaning in conducting sample experiments like this. This is a place where only the minimum laws of gravity operate for your convenience, Suho.”
“I know.”
No matter what Ravi said, Suho paid it no mind and immersed himself frighteningly in the creation of the sky islands.
It was a process of using countless model islands to simulate gravitational effects and derive the optimal design.
Ravi’s points about the problems that could arise from the sky islands were valid, but for him, who had plenty of time and wealth, the only thing he ever lacked was “a subject and meaning worth challenging.”
That made it even harder to imagine Suho giving up over a hurdle of this size.
As an EX-rank crafter, Suho decided to mobilize all the transcendent knowledge he had gained upon awakening, along with the scientific knowledge supported by AI, to comprehensively compensate for the problems that would arise from installing a sky island.
What Suho, with astonishing tenacity, created over several months in the subspace warehouse and several weeks outside was as follows.
First came the anti-gravity filtering system.
This was a gravitational balance device and system that not only detected gravitational imbalance in the area where the levitation stones operated and kept gravity uniform, but also corrected gravitational distortion in real time in the region beneath the island by embedding a “gravity stabilization module” into the sky island’s foundational structure.
Rather than a single device, multiple independent anti-gravity devices were distributed throughout, so that even if several failed, the rest could immediately maintain balance.
In addition, it was equipped by default with a function that dispersed the energy generated by the levitation stones toward the edges of the island, minimizing the gravity that reached the ground.
After consulting with the government, the island’s location was set above the East Sea, at a point where the sea could be seen to the east and the Korean Peninsula to the west. As a precaution, they chose the airspace above the region with the lowest residential population, and installed a “gravity control field” in a specific area beneath the island as a protective measure to ensure that the zone maintained stable gravity.
Also, like a “geostationary satellite” orbiting above Earth’s equator at exactly the same speed as Earth’s rotation, the sky island had to be made to remain fixed at a specific position, so it needed to be synchronized with Earth’s rotational speed.
On the other hand, since it had to operate at an altitude far lower than an ordinary satellite’s geostationary orbit, an additional propulsion system was needed to overcome air resistance and gravitational effects.
To accomplish this, multiple anti-gravity cores placed beneath the island would adjust gravitational strength in real time to keep the island fixed, while gravity sensors calculated Earth’s rotational speed and had the island adjust its position based on that.
In practical terms, it was necessary to adjust the energy wavelengths of the levitation stones so they synchronized with Earth’s rotational speed. The basic method was for the levitation stones placed beneath the island to detect Earth’s rotational speed and generate force to push the island in the necessary direction. This maximized the energy efficiency of the levitation stones, allowing operation with minimal resources.
As a supplement, multidirectional jet thrusters installed around the island’s perimeter were necessary. One could call it a super-large version of the technology once used by octocopters on the summit of Everest.
It also used plasma jet propulsion that consumed etherium, and with this force, it became possible to overcome air resistance and the effects of wind, precisely adjust the island’s orbit, and fix the island in its designated position.
In addition, considering the possibility that the sky island might affect Earth’s natural phenomena, he established atmospheric circulation stabilization systems, oceanic impact monitoring, disaster response networks, and the like as insurance.
By the time this complex design was finished, a considerable amount of time had passed. Of course, not much time had passed outside.
In any case, the sky island was not simply something floating in the air. It was something stabilized through precise calculations of Earth’s physical laws and environmental variables.
For the task of actually floating a prototype sky island about one kilometer in diameter on Earth as a test, only a few select members among Suho’s researchers, including Dr. Choi and Dr. Barrett, were mobilized. That was because Suho still had no intention of revealing these levitation stones to the world, so maintaining secrecy was important.
At any rate, Suho had already completed the designs for most of the major parts together with Ravi, and the missing areas were being assisted by AI and androids, so a small number of people was sufficient.
“The anti-gravity cores have stabilized. Releasing the locking devices. Raising altitude to 1,500 meters and maintaining.”
The island was composed of a wide steel plate and rocks placed on top of it. In truth, it was more like a crude test dummy than an island, but for the time being, it was equipped with every necessary facility.
Soon, a soft blue light emanated from the underside of the island, and the entire island gently rose into the air. The air swirled around the island as the faint hum of the thrusters rang out.
After it had risen for a while and looked almost like a dot, Suho picked up the radio.
“Good. Now let’s confirm whether it synchronizes with Earth’s rotation.”
“Understood. Checking rotational speed synchronization.”
Every experiment that followed was successful.
While the island floated in the sky, strong winds tried to disrupt its positional balance, but the automated propulsion system immediately activated and restored it. When the island tilted to one side, the thrusters also returned it to its original position.
Also, when the island, which had been synchronizing with Earth’s rotational speed, deviated from the baseline due to a sudden atmospheric current, it immediately received satellite data and readjusted.
“The wind strength at high altitude is stronger than expected. We will raise thruster output to twelve percent.”
“Good.”
Looking up at the island, which had now climbed far into the sky to three thousand meters, Suho muttered.
“Okay, so it can handle this level well enough…”
After finishing the design, production, and experiments to determine whether the sky island could be operated, Suho began full-scale island production.
The main plan was to “build the whole thing first, then float it.”
He had Ravi cut out a mass of magrite three kilometers in diameter, installed all the necessary devices beneath it, including gravity stabilization devices and anti-gravity cores, then flipped it back over and set it up on Earth’s surface.
Since it was quite a substantial structure, he rented one of the reclaimed sites created for an industrial complex on the east coast.
Compared to the artificial island Bigyeongdo in the East Sea, whose area was almost comparable to that of Ulleungdo, the sky island was only about ten percent as large. But what mattered was that it was an island floating in the sky.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that its rarity was not one-tenth, but hundreds or thousands of times greater.
Since the area was narrow at only three kilometers in diameter, it was somewhat insufficient to form a city, so he planned to maximize the use of space and create one smart village.
First, he built a mini airport with a runway about two kilometers long, making it possible for both small aircraft and helicopters to land. It also included boarding gates, a luxury lounge, and an air traffic control tower.
Since there was no particular need for concrete high-rise buildings, he installed luxurious penthouses made of prefabricated modular structures, and all residential buildings were designed so that residents could fully enjoy the sky island’s unique view.
In addition, he planned hot springs and spas that could be enjoyed in the air, an aerial skywalk, and a 360-degree rotating observatory with ultra-high-magnification telescopes. In the central area, he even installed an artificial garden and simple sports facilities.
The electricity needed inside and outside the buildings was supplied by a small ether power plant, providing abundant power to all buildings and facilities.
This sky island was scheduled to rise to about ten kilometers in the air, far higher than Everest.
Naturally, there were extreme environmental problems such as strong high-altitude jet streams, extremely cold conditions, intense radiation and ultraviolet rays, thin oxygen, and air pressure issues.
To transform this extreme environment into a habitable space, the entire island was enclosed in a powerful dome-shaped glass wall perfectly fitted to its three-kilometer diameter. The dome was enormous, with an interior height reaching five hundred meters upward at the center.
Of course, it was not ordinary glass. It was multilayer composite glass made of “Neophonic Shield,” a cosmic material Suho had demanded from Ravi and received.
Neophonic Shield was a special crystal material that was one thousand times stronger than steel but weighed only one-hundredth as much. When an external impact occurred, it absorbed the shock, then converted the energy into light or heat and dispersed it.
It was the perfect material, with transparency adjustable from 100% to 50%, and it also made it easy to control internal air pressure, temperature, and oxygen concentration.
The dome itself, already surrounded by Neophonic Shield, served as a powerful defensive barrier, but an additional defense line was formed around the island’s perimeter. This consisted of a drone defense system capable of responding to enemy fighter jets and missiles, as well as a counter-missile response system.
Not only that, high-speed escape pods capable of leaving the sky island and descending to the ground in emergencies were also installed throughout.
Given Suho’s tendency to become intensely immersed once he fixated on something, the creation of the sky island proceeded at an incredible pace. Excluding the several months Suho spent in the subspace warehouse, the full-scale construction of the sky island’s buildings at the reclaimed industrial complex site on the east coast took only two months.
In that short period, all prefabricated buildings and facilities were completed, and in August, under the blazing sun, the day finally came to float the sky island.
The weather was not very good.
It did not rain, but the sky was gloomy and covered with dark clouds.
A massive something three kilometers in diameter occupied most of the reclaimed land for the industrial complex.
The sight of a city, airport, green spaces, and cutting-edge facilities perfectly arranged inside the enormous glass dome looked, from very far away, like a well-made snow globe.
Since this was a project that prohibited any outside access, not even a single reporter was allowed near the site, aside from a few members of Suho’s selected research team and several government officials.
Even so, residents of Elysium Heights and members of the Ultimate Line Clan, who would be using this place frequently in the future, were allowed to come and watch as much as they liked, so quite a large number of people had gathered to see the scene.
“Preparations for the sky island’s ascent are complete.”
“Good. Shall we float it?”
Suho, wearing powered armor and even equipped with the Tempestbane Wings, gave a thumbs-up toward Dr. Choi and the others.
Since the sky island was already equipped with an enormous quantity of levitation stones, it had to be held to the ground with a considerable amount of special wire. It was like a giant hot-air balloon tied down with ropes.
“Releasing control wires. Anti-gravity system and energy cores ready for activation.”
Beneath the center of the island, the anti-gravity cores began to gradually brighten, and blue energy spread downward like veins as the entire island began to vibrate.
The enormous wires gripping the ground separated one by one, and as every point of contact connected to the island was released, the sky island slowly began to rise.
“Plasma jet thrusters confirmed operating normally. Dome interior air circulation, air pressure, temperature, and oxygen concentration are being maintained at normal levels.”
As reports continued to come in, in the few dozen seconds since they had started looking up, the sky island had already risen to about one hundred meters.
“Waaah…”
“I can’t believe I’m seeing something like this in my lifetime… Something you’d only see in a cartoon…”
“…It’s so incredible I don’t even know what to say…”
Many people tilted their heads all the way back and stared up at the sky, unaware that their necks were starting to ache.
Before long, information came in that the sky island, now visible like a dot, had reached an altitude of two kilometers.
A dozen or so minutes later, when a report came in that the island had reached an altitude of ten kilometers, Suho spread his Tempestbane Wings and looked back at the group who had recently climbed Everest with him.
“Now we don’t have to go all the way to Everest to enjoy a high-altitude view. Anyone here gets sky island access and high-altitude viewing access for free, just like Bigyeongdo. Free.”
“Wha…aaat…”
“J-just… for that?”
Everyone was rendered speechless by Suho’s ability and wealth, having whipped up a floating island solely because the view from high places was incredible.
“Well, that’s part of it… but more than that, it’s fun to try all sorts of things, isn’t it? Anyway, see you up there!”
Suho grinned, lowered his visor, and shot into the sky. The hatches of the five octocopters prepared for those who wished to be the first to tour the sky island opened with a hiss.